Tehran, July 11 (V7N) – Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium remains secure despite a massive US military operation that targeted key nuclear facilities last month, according to a report by The New York Times citing a senior Israeli official.

On June 21, the United States launched a large-scale raid on three critical Iranian nuclear sites, deploying 14 bunker-busting bombs weighing 30,000 pounds each. Both the US and Israel initially claimed that the operation set back Iran’s nuclear program by one to two years.

However, new revelations from within the Netanyahu administration suggest otherwise. According to the official, Iran possesses approximately 18,000 centrifuges, many of which were destroyed in the US strike. Yet, crucially, the entire stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity was stored in special containers that survived the attack and remain under the control of Iranian scientists.

The report further indicates that Tehran is believed to have the capability to develop a nuclear bomb using this enriched uranium. The anonymous official also claimed that Iran accelerated its nuclear weapons program following the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli operation ten months ago—a development that was reportedly communicated to Washington.

These findings raise fresh concerns about the resilience of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and the challenges faced by the US and its allies in curbing Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

END/RH/AJ